Target Audience Analysis

District 9

 

Demographics is a way of characterizing a population to meet the success of marketing and to record the increase or decrease of an average age in a certain population. Demographics can cover age categories, social class and gender and additional coverage can be the knowledge of language, disabilities and employment status.

 

Psychographicsincludes the research of an audiences’ personal interest, personalities and the common interests and behaviour aspects of an individual. This use of study is useful and valuable within the marketing industry.

 

Both demographics and psychographics are used when identifying a target audience for a specific film or genre as it narrows the audiences profile down and puts it in a certain group so it is easier to categorize a target audience.

Thriller Film: District 9(age rating 15)

 

Overview of the film: “In 1982, a star ship bearing an alien population called ‘The Prawns’ appeared over South Africa. Many years later the welcome by the human population faded. Refugee camp where the aliens located had deteriorated into a ghetto named ‘District 9’. During 2010 the munitions corporatizing is called to evict the population with the villains in charge. Throughout this event ‘Wikus’has been exposed to the alien chemical and depends on the assistance of his remaining two ‘prawn’friends.”
 

The themes including in this film are racism and xenophobia which are not typical themes included in a thriller genre indicating that the film may use not use the stereotypical conventions of a thriller film.

 

Target audience analysis:

 

While researching district 9, it is apparent that the most common age category for the demographics of the audience would range between 16-24 years; this is because the rating of the film is 15 showing that the content would not be appropriate for any age younger than this. Also the content consists of unrealistic features such as aliens implying that an additional genre is sci-fi, this is typically a common interest in young adults and teenagers which meets the criteria for demographic B as it states that this audience are ‘creative’.Creativity would be required to imagine the film as a realistic event and to understand how the conventions used links in with the thriller genre. Another consideration for a demographic group could be D as it is stereotypical for manual /part time workers to enjoy this genre of film.

 

For the psychographics of the target audience would come under ‘explorers’ as typically the audience for this film would be interested in an adventurous and a different plot in comparison to other stereotypical plots and would enjoy the surrealism of the film. Their interests would include interactivity and creativity which links in with the conventions used in this film and how it is structured to entertain this specific target audience.